Combretum zeyheri leaves

The relative position of leaf veins on upper and lower surfaces of the raasblaar, Combretum zeyheri, are clear to see on this tree of the Pretoria National Botanical Garden.

Neatly spaced and parallel, the lateral veins ascend to the margins from the midrib. Below they are prominent like a cream fishbone skeleton (with reduced spine), although the ribs are not all in opposite pairs as a fish would require. Above, they are sunken in the surface, rough with finely reticulated net-veining. Fine, short hairs make the leaf margins ciliate (Carr, 1988).